Overview
The 2030 Movement Strategy emphasizes the equitable distribution of knowledge-sharing opportunities across Wikimedia Communities globally. Among its initiatives, the Inuka Team is developing the Wikistories Project, which focuses on visually representing Wikimedia content and creating workflows that enhance content contribution and discovery.
The project aimed to collaborate with Wikimedia Indonesia and gather feedback from Indonesian wiki editor communities, including Indonesian, Balinese, and Javanese Wikipedias, on concepts and designs for WikiStories. The focus was on the experience of potential WikiStory creators, especially existing Wikipedia editors.
Overall feedback on Wikistories was positive, with participants showing interest in creating Wikistories to share contributions to Wikipedia and Commons. Participants preferred sharing Wikistories on social media to entice users to explore Wikipedia articles. Design changes were made after initial sessions to fill critical gaps. Participants favored the Main (Creator) prototype over the Automated prototype for creativity and personalization.
Top High Level Takeaways
Please see the final report for a complete breakdown of results and recommendations. High-level takeaways are categorized into four areas: discovery, content, support, and ecosystem.
1. Discovery
Visibility and discovery are crucial. Consider entry points across wikis and platforms like social media. Participants frequently asked, “Where will Wikistories be available?” They were curious if Wikistories would appear on Wikipedia or as a separate app. Participants desired links to social media for direct Wikistory creation. Although outside the research scope, an obvious entry point could attract users to curate more Wikistories.
2. Content
Participants’ expectations mirrored other social media stories. They created stories on current events, places, or interests, e.g., public transportation. They aimed to share Wikipedia facts with the public, with some wanting to share daily facts. Participants created Wikistories on topics they edited or contributed to in Commons but faced challenges finding images for topics like math.
3. Support
Participants wondered if they could combine images and text from different Wikipedia articles. For example, one wanted to create a Wikistory on dolphins using articles on dolphins and mammals. Another wanted to mix images and texts from various dance articles. Opinions varied on how many images a Wikistory should have, averaging 5 images, ranging from 1-3 to 6-10 images.
4. Ecosystem
Participants hoped to share Wikistories like Instagram Stories to attract readers to full articles. They worried Wikistories only on Wikipedia wouldn’t be functional, as visitors are already there to read articles.